Current Research in Virology

Publication Ethics

Science Publications follows all ethical standards to ensure scholarly integrity in a responsible manner, to maintain public trust in the research published for public benefit and research development. Science Publications is striving to be a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authorship:
An individual who has made considerable academic contributions to a scientific investigation, for example, one who contributes significantly, to the conception, design, execution, analysis and interpretation of the data, participates in drafting, reviewing or revising the manuscript for intellectual content and approves the manuscript to be published.

Corresponding Author:
If there are multiple authors in an article, one author should be designated as the Corresponding Author. A Corresponding Author assumes overall responsibility for the manuscript, providing significant contribution to the research effort, may not necessarily be the principal investigator or project leader.

Co-authors:
All co-authors of a publication are responsible for providing consent authorship to the Corresponding Author, should contribute in the research work, take responsibility for appropriate portions of the content, acknowledging that they have reviewed and approved the manuscript and are responsible for the content of all appropriate portions of the manuscript, including the integrity of any applicable research.
Authors may acknowledge those people who helped in research project, such as office staff, editorial assistants, medical writers, or other individuals in their acknowledgement. Guest (symbolic), gift (an individual who has not contributed to the research work) and ghost authors are all inconsistent with the definition of authorship, and are unacceptable and a violation of this policy.

Conflict of Interest:
A Conflict of Interest exists when judgement regarding the research is influenced by factors such as financial gain or personal relationships. All authors are required to disclose any financial, personal or other associations that may influence or be perceived to influence, their work.

Plagiarism:
Science Publications is committed to publish original and unpublished material to maintain the integrity of the scientific record. The corresponding author must affirm that all of the other authors have read and approved of the manuscript. All articles submitted to Science Publications are screened for plagiarism using iThenticate. If an article contains traces of plagiarism, Science Publications will lead an investigation on the matter and will take further action depending on the type of plagiarism.
Duplicate submission / publication:
Authors must assure that the manuscript is not being considered for publication in whole or in part elsewhere. Processing on manuscripts found to have been published elsewhere or under review will be suspended and authors will suffer sanctions.

Citation Manipulation:
Citation manipulation refers to the publication of an article primarily to increase an author's number of citations. This is against our Ethical Guidelines and we strongly advise authors not to indulge in similar activities.

Redundant Publications:
Redundant publication refers to publishing the same intellectual material more than once, by the author. Suspected cases of redundant manuscript submission will be handled as per the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines

Sanctions:
In the case of a complaint of misconduct, Science Publications will carry out an investigation following the COPE guidelines. All stakeholders will be given an opportunity to share their views on the matter. If the complaint raises valid concerns, the journal will implement sanctions on authors according to severity of the breach.

Science Publications might find it compulsory in some cases to rectify certain pieces of literature. In which cases, Science Publications will abide by the COPE Retraction Guidelines.

An Erratum, or correction of an article, should be issued if:

a small portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading (especially because of honest error)

the author / contributor list is incorrect (i.e. a deserving author has been omitted or somebody who does not meet authorship criteria has been included)

Manuscripts should be retracted if:

Journal Editors have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error)

the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication)

it constitutes plagiarism

it reports unethical research

Journal editors should consider issuing an expression of concern if:

they receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors

there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case

they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive

an investigation is underway but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time